The Boston Celtics put up a valiant effort on Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards forcing the Wizards to double overtime before falling 125-124

Despite being down Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, and Daniel Theis, the Boston Celtics were able to put up quite the fight against the Washington Wizards.

Boston was delegated to a starting unit of Terry Rozier, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Morris, Guershon Yabusele, and Aron Baynes. The depth behind the starters also had to step up with players like Abdel Nader seeing a massive uptick in playing time. With all this uncertainty the Celtics forced the Wizards to double overtime.

Morris had himself a monster game scoring 31 points with 50% shooting in 44:10 minutes of playing time. After Morris, you had guys like Rozier scoring 21 points and Tatum scoring 19. It was a team effort though with Greg Monroe, Shane Larkin, and Nader all scoring 10+ points off of the bench for Brad Stevens.

One of the go-to players late in the game was Tatum who at 19-years-old was asked to make a lot of big shots. The rookie wing had a chance to win it all for Boston at the end of the first overtime but missed a game-winning free throw that forced the game to go into double overtime.

Tatum also took the last shot of the game missing a three on a decent look. You can’t get too upset with Tatum because despite his shortcomings he made a lot of big plays for a rookie and was a huge playmaker for a team that was down multiple all-stars.

The C’s made their fair share of mistakes including one at the end of regulation when Morris have just let Otto Porter lay it in. This shortcoming was one that Steven’s acknowledged post-game but admitted the Celtics wouldn’t have even come close without Marcus Morris and his play.

“We wouldn’t have been there without him.”

Boston looks to get Horford back for Friday’s game and Irving back for Sunday’s game. So hopefully going forward the team won’t have to rely on bench players to step up. But for one night to keep it as close as they did with the Wizards was sort of impressive.

Prior to Wednesday night’s game against the Washington Wizards Boston Celtics Head Coach Brad Stevens issued several injury updates.

Stevens’s updates included ones on Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, and Daniel Theis.

• Theis who has already been ruled out for the season with a torn meniscus is going to have surgery to repair it on Thursday.
• Irving had tests on his knee and they came back clean. Stevens says there is a chance that he plays on Sunday and will travel with the team. He is unlikely for Friday but there is a chance he plays.
• Horford is expected to return to action on Friday.
• Jaylen Brown is progressing but hasn’t started the NBA concussion protocol yet. The team is hoping that Brown will start that process at some point this weekend.

There is still a lot of uncertainty with Jaylen. But the updates on Horford and Irving are promising with both expected to be fully back in the rotation by the weekend.

With Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Marcus Smart, Daniel Theis, Gordon Hayward, and Jaylen Brown all out tonight against the Washington Wizards the lineup and rotations for Brad Stevens are going to be fairly interesting, to say the least.

Many of the injured like a Theis, Hayward, and Smart are expected to be out for the foreseeable future with only Smart potentially coming back this season. So the lineup challenge will be something Stevens has to deal with on a game-by-game basis. But Wednesday nights game against Washington will likely be the most challenging with two all-stars out in Irving and in Horford.

#NEBHInjuryReport for tonight's game vs. Washington:

Brown (concussion) - OUT
Hayward (left ankle rehab) - OUT
Horford (illness) - OUT
Irving (left knee soreness) - OUT
Smart (right thumb sprain) - OUT
Tatum (low back tightness) - PROBABLE
Theis (left knee meniscal tear) - OUT

— Boston Celtics (@celtics) March 14, 2018

So what exactly will the starting five look like for Stevens against the Wizards? Well here are the players who are expected to be available.

The #Celtics are EXTREMELY shorthanded going into tonight's game vs @WashWizards.

Who is your Starting 5?

Available are:
Tatum (probable)
Rozier
Morris
Monroe
Baynes
Larkin
Nader
Ojeleye
Yabusele
Jabari Bird
Kadeem Allen

— Celtics on NBC Sports Boston (@NBCSCeltics) March 14, 2018

Chances are Shane Larkin will slot in at point guard with Terry Rozier at the shooting guard position. Then you will have the rookie Jayson Tatum at small forward, Marcus Morris at power forward and either Aron Baynes or Greg Monroe at center.

Larkin

Rozier

Tatum

Morris

Baynes/Monroe

With many key scorers out you could potentially see Tatum and Rozier lead the team in points with the chances of the pair launching up 20+ shots a piece an actual possibility. The emergence of Morris as a scorer should also help fill in the gaps for the Celtics.

The big question for tonight is who off the bench will step up and make key shots for Boston. A part of me believes it will be  Abdel Nader. Either way, it is going to be a challenge Stevens will have to manage going forward with the second best team in the Eastern Conference having some serious injury concerns all of a sudden.

For those of you that though a potential Hayward return was crazy, these injuries may force it with the star wing reportedly close to running and all reports saying he looks close to 100% at practice.

Update: It appears that Guershon Yabusele will make his first NBA start for the Celtics tonight.

So to make it official:

Boston Celtics tonight vs. Washington…

Starters: Rozier, Tatum, Morris, Yabusele, Baynes

Bench: Larkin, Allen, Nader, Bird, Ojeleye, Monroe

Out: Irving, Smart, Brown, Hayward, Horford, Theis

Not walking through that door: Bird, McHale, Parish

— Sean Grande (@SeanGrandePBP) March 14, 2018